Soderling sails past Murray

Robin Soderling will play Andy Roddick for a place in the BNP Paribas Open final after the Swede claimed a convincing victory over Andy Murray in Indian Wells.

The sixth-seed cruised through the first set before battling through the second to score a 6-1 7-6 (7-4) triumph.

Murray never got going against the hard-hitting Swede and two costly breaks in the opening set put Soderling firmly in the driving seat.

The world number four rallied briefly in the second set to force a tie-breaker but Soderling had enough in the tank to close out victory in one hour and 34 minutes.

"I started really well, I was moving well. I knew it was impossible to out-power Andy so I knew I had to wait for my opportunity, and I did that today," Soderling told Sky Sports.

Dominant

Soderling has won his two previous matches with Roddick but the 25-year-old refused to read anything into that statistic.

"We played two times but it was indoors," he said. "The margins are going to be really small."

Big-serving American Roddick booked his place in the semi-finals earlier in the day with a straight sets victory over Tommy Robredo.

The big-serving seventh seed powered past the Spaniard 6-3 7-5 to reach the last semi-finals of the Masters Series event in Indian Wells for the fourth time.

Roddick broke in the eighth game to clinch the first set in just 34 minutes as he dominated behind a typically heavy serve.

The second set went with serve until the 11th game when the American finally broke through, and swiftly served out for the match.

Rafael Nadal and Ivan Ljubicic have already booked their places in the last four with wins on Thursday.